Students to promote environmental issues in city elections

Student environmental activists are vying to increase student turnout in the November city council elections by pushing a greener agenda onto the stage.

The student group, UMD for Clean Energy, is working to mobilize a few hundred students from campus groups in order to draw support for candidates that put the environment near the top of their priorities.

"We're reaching out to politically active groups, stopping by their meetings and registering members to vote," said Matt Dernoga, the group's campaign coordinator, who is also a Diamondback columnist. "Since student voter turnout has been historically low and a candidate can win by only a few hundred votes, we'll hopefully make up a large block and have influence over who will win on the platform we are pushing."

The group is not only pushing traditional "green" policies like recycling and using public transportation, Dernoga said. The platform they hope candidates will adopt includes creating jobs that relate to the environment and promoting energy efficient practices that will help save citizens money.

Last night, mayoral candidate Andy Fellows spoke to students, community members and faculty about his plans for making College Park a greener city at the group's kickoff meeting in Stamp Student Union.

"One thing I want is to work with local evironmental groups, campus groups and other jurisdictions," Fellows said. "The environment is an issue where collaboration makes more sense and change will come faster."

The main part of their agenda is an energy efficiency loan fund — a pool of money collected from property taxes that would be loaned out to College Park residents at a low-interest rate in order to finance energy efficient upgrades for their homes. The savings that residents would generate from their upgrades would be used to pay off the loans.

"It allows for the obstacle of start-up costs to be overcome because although they have to pay up front [for the upgrade] first, they can pay the money back and the problem is solved in the long run because they save money," said District 1 councilman Patrick Wojahn.

He added long-term residents would likely be targeted and that he predicts a "fairly high" number of those residents to participate in the program.

Student activists hope council members and candidates will use the proposal in their platforms for the upcoming city elections.

Similar funds have already been successfully established in Montgomery County and Annapolis, students said, and they hope if the bill passes, College Park will serve as a model for Prince George's County.

Wojahn will be bringing the topic to the city council work session on Wednesday.

If the council decides to approve the bill, it will create more jobs because workers will be needed for energy auditing and retrofit companies that install upgrades, Dernoga said.

The biggest obstacle for the program to overcome is financing, as both Wojahn and Fellows expressed concerns over finding funding.

"It will take external pressures and planning, and we will need to know the numbers in order to be successful," Fellows said during a question and answer session at the end of last night's event. "But it's wise to get involved in the race and with the council because that is how you get things done in College Park."

cetrone@umdbk.com